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Smart meter installations have decreased by 95 per cent during the lockdown as non-essential home visits have been halted.
ElectraLink said the massive decrease began at the end of March meaning that April saw a decrease in non-essential installations of almost 95 per cent compared to the same month in 2019.
There were fewer than 12,000 installations in April, all of which were essential and would have needed justification such as restoring supply to a site or rectifying a fault. April 2019 had 210,000 smart meter installations in comparison.
Furthermore, the April 2020 figure is 93 per cent less than March 2020.
The East of England had the most installations with 1,300, followed by the West Midlands with 1,124 installs and North West England with 1,017.
According to the latest government figures, at the end of 2019 16.5 million smart advanced meters were operating in Great Britain.
Speaking to Utility Week yesterday (13 May) EDF’s managing director of retail Philippe Commaret said all retailers would have to find a way to overcome an apparent reluctance from the public to allow workers in their homes following the pandemic.
“The key success factor will be definitely to recreate confidence with customers, so we have to demonstrate to them that when we are going to install a smart meter, it is going to be safe for the customer and for our employee,” he said.
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